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Billerica rep, former top Patrick aide debate immigration

The Lowell Sun

Posted:
07/28/2014 05:30:12 PM EDT

By Andy Metzger

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON -- In a live televised discussion Sunday morning, former interim U.S. Sen. Mo Cowan and Rep. Marc Lombardo expressed starkly different takes on Gov. Deval Patrick's proposal to potentially use one of the state's military bases to house immigrant children.

The two appeared on MSNBC's Up With Steve Kornacki. Children fleeing poverty and crime in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala and illegally entering the country have overwhelmed the federal government's facilities to house them while their cases are processed.

Cowan, who was Patrick's chief of staff before being appointed to a temporary seat in the U.S. Senate, said Patrick's offer demonstrated "leadership" and was emblematic of how Americans help those in need.

A Billerica Republican, Lombardo cited Patrick's own case for more revenues to argue that the state cannot afford to take on the burden.

"The governor passed these tax increases on the basis that we didn't have the revenue to provide basic services that we needed for the residents of Massachusetts," Lombardo said. He said, "Before we open up our pocketbooks to take care of those who shouldn't be in the country, we certainly should try to take care of those who are here, Massachusetts residents, and according to the governor's own arguments we don't have the revenue to do so."

Patrick has said the federal government would cover all the costs for temporarily housing the children.

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Republicans argued against Patrick's tax proposals and the tax hikes that became law in 2013, saying they were unnecessary.

Cowan said the state's own challenges cannot be used as a "false excuse."

Lombardo also referenced the drawn-out battle over the custody of Justina Pelletier, a Connecticut girl who was the object of disagreement between her parents and the Department of Children and Families to push back against the notion that Patrick is a humanitarian.

"For 16 months here in Massachusetts, we watched how the governor treated Justina Pelletier. The nation watched. And I can tell you that the governor's no humanitarian," Lombardo said.

Responding to a Boston Globe poll that found the public divided about the idea, Cowan made a forceful argument for the state to play a role and knocked opponents who he said were capitalizing on untruths.

"I think the polls reflect that there's a great deal of misinformation and misunderstanding about the current state of affairs, and there are those who use that misinformation and misunderstanding to their benefit, to stoke the fires against immigration, against immigrants. And I think it's shameful, and it's un-American. The reality is this is what America does when there's a humanitarian crisis. Americans step up. We aid," Cowan said.